Conflict
by Thistoo
Summary: Kylo Ren doesn’t know what he is anymore. His defeat on the planet Crait coupled with Rey’s refusal to join him has left him shattered and frustrated. At the height of his frustrations, a force vision attempts pulls him in a new direction entirely. While it might not be where he should be, it’s definelty where he needs to be.


**"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently."**

He wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and die. He was so sure she would say yes, and join him. They would rule together, bring a new galaxy into creation and destroy everything that chained them to the past. It seemed all so obtainable, so real.

But the world and people were never accepting of him. She pushed him away, and reached for the lightsaber with the force. They both fought for it, and it broke, blasing both of them away and knocking him unconscious. When he woke, she was gone, and everything he had hoped for followed her. His destiny, their future, gone on a flash of blinding light.

Kylo Ren, or Ben Solo, mulled over his thoughts in his chamber. He was on the Star Destroyer that housed his chambers, the Finalizer. He sat on his bed, hunched over. His hands were firmly placed on his head, black wavy locks pouring out from between his fingers. His chambers housed only the barest of essentials, those being his bed, nightstand with a normal revolution alarm,close drawers, and a helmet stand for a recently smashed mask. He wore the exact same attire from the battle of Crait, purposely clinging to his failures. Why did she reject him? What did he say wrong? Why couldn't she see that they could rebuild the world?

Anger swelled within his chest. They were so capable of doing it! Why couldn't she just let go!? She clung to those worthless Jedi fantasies and stories that were made to entertain fucking children! Those Jedi wouldn't have known a way to a better galaxy if it hit them in the side of his head! Why couldn't she see that? His fist clenched, causing cracks and tears in the metal floor beneath him. The sound alone was enough to pull him out of his thoughts and back to his reality. He looked down at the cracks in the ground, and sighed. Hopefully that didn't mess with any of the wiring in his room and on the ship. He pushed himself off his bed, stepping over the cracks and bent up metal. He had a meeting with the General's of the First Order to come up with a solution to the Resistance, and he would rather get this done as soon as possible. He went to his door, and pressed a button on the side. It hissed as the lock opened and he stepped out.

As he walked down the halls of the Star Destroyer, he passed by both Storm Troopers and personnel. Each time he would pass one, they would stop and salute, addressing him as "Supreme Leader". There was no respect in any of their voices. Instead, there was only a subdued fear, which was fine by him. He still however tried his best to ignore them, as he had always done.

The halls and corridors of the Finalizer stretched out and onwards in all directions, like a chrome black labyrinth. He still knew his way, as years of traversing the Starship has had the layout ingrained in his mind. He turned into a grey metallic room with a table in the middle. Seated around the table were various officials and higher ups of the first order, including General Hux. A seat was empty from the recent death of Captain Phasma, which had yet to be occupied. Kylo took a seat at the head of the table.

"Good day to you, Supreme leader." One of the bald Generals whom he couldn't recall the name addressed him. "Any news on the Resistance?" He asked in his deadpan voice. The officials glanced nervous looks round the table at each other. "We haven't been able to locate them?"

"Why is that?" There was a small hint of subdued anger in Kylo's voice. His leather gloves made a quiet speaking noise as his hands balled into fists. The nervous glances around the room increased, and he could now feel their discomfort and fear through the force.

"T-their using cloaking devices to avoid our scanners, and without the Supremacy we lack the ability to track their Hyperspace movements." The bald General stammered as he responded, "We have however, picked up citings of Resistance members on these planets." He produced a remote from one of his pockets and pushed a button on it, causing a holo projection of the entire galaxy to project above the center of the table. A couple random planets peppered through each system glowed red, but there seemed to be no correlation between them.

"What is this supposed to say, General? Without actually destroying them, they'll rebuild.They're the only form of insurgency we face." Kylo's voice grew in volume, his deadpan melting away and exploding into a sudden violent roar. "Why do I have to point this out to you people! Why can't any of you, with all your resources, find them and snuff them out!"

"Supreme Leader, may I remind you that it was your decision a month ago to go face Skywalker on Craite which gave them enough time to flee." Hux interjected at Kylo while he was in the middle of chewing them out. "If anything, it was your childish anger and short sightedness that allowed the Resistance to esc-" Kylo cut him off, making a claw with his hand and pointing it a Hux. Suddenly, the air in his throat cut off. He put his hands on his neck,trying his best to breath. Kylo continued to force choke him, "Do not accuse me of anything! I make the decisions I need to! Do you understand that?" Hux, now on the verge of passing out gave a quick and panicked nod, prompting Kylo to let go of his grip. Hux gasped for air, swallowing hard trying to get as much oxygen back into his lungs.

Putting Hux back in his place was always cathartic for Kylo. Hux was a coward who only talked a big game, and had tried to put him in his place and belittle him ever since they met. Now that he was in charge, he could do whatever he wanted to Hux. He could have him killed, kill him himself, strip him of all his rank, or completely remove him from the first order entirely. There where so many options he could inflict upon the ginger fascist, so many painful options in every sense of the word. Just a swing of his lightsaber, or a little tighter squeeze, and it would be over.

However, he couldn't kill him, not yet at least. He was too important to the inner workings of The First Order. He was also the only one of them competent enough to rally the Storm Troopers now that Phasma was dead. This was more just to not only put Hux momentarily back in his place along with the other Generals.

Speaking of them, Kylo looked back at the other group of Generals. They all had their eyes on the still coughing Hux with a look of fear and concern, which was what Kylo wanted. Fear was the only thing that would keep them in line. He stood up from his seat, prompting them all to look up at him. " I want you to find a pattern between these planets. Raw materials, factories, Jedi Temples, anything that consistently lines up. Do that, and find where their going to be next." He turned around to leave, "I'm going to go meditate. Tell me what you find." As he left, each General spared fearful glances to each other. None of them really knew what was going to happen next.

Back in his chamber, Kylo had resumed his position. He had initially desired to meditate, but had decided against it. When he had meditated in the past, he usually was accompanied by the melt mask of his grandfather Darth Vader. However, as of recently he had not been anywhere near that mask. Didn't want to face it with all his recent failures, and had been actively avoiding it. He had even had it removed to a farther location away from his personal chambers as to further remove himself. However, he didn't feel comfortable meditating away from it. He felt as if he couldn't focus when he wasn't around it.

He huffed in annoyance, realizing that he was practically dependent on the mask. He pushed himself back into his bed, pulling the covers over his body. He flicked his hand, using the force to hit the lightswitch and turn it off. His admitted sulking had drained much of his energy, and he was way too tired to continue. He closed his eyes, trying to let the peace of sleep overtake him.

Kylo was asleep. He wasn't sure how he knew that, but somehow he did. He was surrounded Darkness, all enveloping darkness. He was no longer lying down, instead standing. Whatever he was standing on, it was something cold. He looked down to see his bare feet on a black surface lined with glowing white lines leading forward in a sort of walkway.

He looked around, trying to acclimate to his new surroundings and figure out where he was. He noticed it wasn't just darkness, but small stars seemed to dot and litter the black void. He was also surrounded by other white lined pathways, both above and below him to various degrees.

"Hello?" He called out. His voice echoed all around him multiple times, as if he was atop a mountain range. No response was returned, however.

He knew that this was a force vision. It couldn't be anything else. What he didn't know however was where he was or exactly why he was there. He looked forward down the lined path, seeing it continue and branch off. An instinct within him told to continue forward down the path and see more, that he was supposed to see this for a reason. With a bit of hesitation, he stepped forward. The surface beneath him rippled like water, not extending far outside his foot. Seeing the ground was safe, he took more steps forward little more confidence. Once he felt confident in his surroundings, and his feet had acclimated to the cold, he began to walk.

He didn't know what to call this place, or if it was even real. He knew it was a dream, and it was definitely surreal, but something told him this place existed. It was the same instinct that told him to go forward down the path. As he walked, he saw paths around him branch off into more paths, creating a web of bending walkways that all linked to each other. However, the path he was walking seemed to have no connections, no diverging or bending paths, just a straight line forward. He knew it wasn't wise to try to get to the other paths by jumping. No instinct needed to tell him that.

Another major difference from his path compared to the others was a lack of "portholes". The paths that surrounded him diverged off a little to these giant white lined circles with ornate markings and symbols. While many had similar markings and formations, they all seemed to be different in some way or another. His path didn't have any, however. It just seemed to keep going on and on forever and ever.

After what felt like hours of walking, he began to question why he was here. He had continued down this one path for what felt like an eternity with no foreseeable end in sight. Maybe he had done something wrong? Was he supposed to try to get to other paths? He didn't know anymore, no instinct was guiding him. He stopped to rub the side of his head, mulling over his thoughts. Maybe he missed something? He decided that he should go back up the path and check if he missed anything. He pivoted around to go back up that path, and took a single step.

"Please don't go this way"

Kylo jumped at the feminine voice. After what felt like ours in complete silence, something had said something. After the immediate startle he had passed, he realized who that voice belonged to.

"Rey!" He called out into the vast maze. Was she here with him to? Maybe the force had brought them together again! He looked around at the branching paths, trying to see if he could see her. He called out her name again, hoping for a response. The only noise he heard though was his voice echoing back at him, and no sight of her anywhere.

He realized that he had heard her say that before. She had said that to him in the throne room after she rejected his offer to join him on the Supremacy. His heart sank, resurfacing the memories and emotions of his failure to keep her with him. Was this maze torturing him, sending him down an endless path and making him relieve all of his worst moments? He was almost convinced it was as a punishment.

Still wanting to make sure he wasn't truly alone, he turned back around to get a full view of all the paths around him. Instead of seeing the still endless path, he now saw a hole right in front of him. He jumped back a bit startled. That was definitely not there before. The hole was surrounded by three large triangles that overlapped in different directions to make a nine pronged star. The star itself seemed to be lined with various markings, but none of them seemed to be from a language he could identify. It's sudden appearance had seriously shocked him. Why now did it appear in front of him?

After the initial shock had subsided, he moved closer to examine it. He still didn't fully understand what they were, but he seriously wanted to know. He got within a foot of the hole, trying to figure out what it was. Suddenly, an image faded into existence inside the circle. It was of an icy flat tundra, with a massive cliffside in the distance. It then changed to a cave filled with various gemstones that looked like kyber crystals, and then a mosaic of a hand encapsulated by a golden circle. The image didn't change after the last one, still focused on the hand as everything around it was blurred.

It looked so real, like looking through a glass window at something behind it. He reached out with his right hand, seeing if he could touch it. As soon as his hand made contact, it passed through it making a small ripple. He was compelled to touch the hand to overlap his palm onto its own. He continued to reach, sinking about half his arm into it. Suddenly, the image changed, turing back to a black empty ring once more.

Startled again, he tried to pull his hand away. The arm would not come free though, still in the same place. He yanked harder, still producing the same result. His arm was then yanked forward abruptly, sending his entire arm up to the shoulder into black void. Something was pulling him in! Panicking, Kylo dug his heels into the surface and tried to pull his arms free. He was however only met with resistance, as whatever was pulling him tried again even harder. He fought the unknown entity in a vicious tug of war, his arm acting as the rope.

Kylo's feet began to slide on the surface, leaving a small trail of ripples as they did so. Without boots or shoes to dig into the ground, he was having serious problems keeping his position. He made small exhales from exertion as he futility attempted to standing his ground. With a final draw, the entity pulled him off balance and into the void, engulfing him in an all enveloping darkness once more.

Kylo woke up screaming, thrashing about in his bed like a child after a nightmare. He flung his covers off of him in the dark, roaring in defiance once more. He pulled his lightsaber from his nightstand, igniting it. The unstable red blade cast a light over his room, bathing everything in a crimson color. His eyes darted around the room, making sure there were no invaders or would be assasins. All his eyes were met with was room, not a single thing different or changed about them since he had fallen asleep.

He was alone.

Kylo turned off his lightsaber, putting it back on the nightstand. He reached over to his alarm, realizing he had slept the entire night. Despite this, he didn't feel like he had gotten any form of rest like he wanted.


End file.
